


Holmes & The Rule of Three

by Tendergingergirl



Series: Pursuing Sherlock Holmes: Bill Mason, Sherlockian, Book Series [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 14:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17427767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tendergingergirl/pseuds/Tendergingergirl
Summary: January 22, 2018





	Holmes & The Rule of Three

 

 

 

 

 

##  _Is Three Code? It turns out, yes. At least, in canon._

There are many excellent publications on the subject of Sherlock Holmes, and one that I will be highlighting in a series is a wonderful book called _**Pursuing Sherlock Holmes** by Bill Mason **.**_  

3 is a magic number, or at least it was to the Victorians. There seems to have been an obsession, stemming from it’s frequent use in Mathematics, Literature and all other aspects. Arthur Conan Doyle was obviously aware of this and used the number three in almost every tale, through groups of individuals, measures of time, and objects.  
Three was a magical and fashionable number that Victorians lived by. Writers Thomas and Jean Sebeok commented that, _“some of the more brilliant Victorian thinkers were tormented by it.”_ As commented before, Three weaves it’s way through many aspects of life. The bible has the _Father, Son_ , and the _Holy Ghost_. Freud has his _Id, Ego_ , and _Superego_. According to Theology, the body is separated into 3 parts: The _Body_ , the _Mind_ , and the _Spirit_.

The Holmes stories number exactly 60. Three folds. There are three books with the number three in the title, **The Three Students** , **The Three Gables** , and **The Three Garridebs**. Dupin, the inspiration for Holmes, is mentioned three times.

There are three people described as Blind Beetles, an inspiration from **Three Blind Mice** , the Mother Goose rhyme, in  **The Stockbroker’s Clerk, The Cardboard Box,** and **The Priory School.** There are three characters physically-described as like Three Little Pigs, usually in relation to their many chins.

_“Little pig, little pig, let me come in.”_

_“No, no, by the hair of my chinny chin chin.”_

Jephro Rucastle in **The Copper Beeches** “a great heavy chin that rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat”

Culerton Smith in **The Dying Detective** “a great, yellow face, course-grained and greasy, with a heavy double-chin”

Dr. Thorneycroft Huxtable in **The Priory School** “whose rolling chins were unshaven”

Then there is  _ **The Three Musketeers** by Alexandre Dumas_. Apparently, this story is an influence on canon, and it’s entire story is mirrored in **The Hounds of The Baskerville**. Both feature young noblemen, with large estates, as the victims of scams, a man and woman team, masquerading as brother and sister, the noblemen falling for and proposing to the sister, the day of discovery including the sister being caught and bound, with the supposed brother fleeing.

The best part of this book was pointing out that although the boys would occasionally be joined on their adventures by a temporary 3rd, including Lestrade, that just as Batman and Robin had their 3rd in Alfred, so too did Holmes and Watson have that same backup in none other than Mrs. Hudson.

([A bit of fun proof that everyone at Baker Street has a Military Kink](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DTV3OiLWnoyQ&t=MjQwMDZhYmQwMzliZGY2YmQ0ZWRhNDA2MTViZDg1OGEyNzVjOGE2OSxBZ3gxVkVwRg%3D%3D&b=t%3A99US-dd59KEFK-T_oX2E5Q&p=https%3A%2F%2Ftendergingergirl.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F170006993911%2Fholmes-the-rule-of-three&m=1))

Holmes also states that the three qualities necessary for the ideal Detective: Observation, Deduction, Knowledge. There were three Violets in his life, he professed to doing cocaine three times a day, and wore three different dressing gowns, in three colors.

There are many other examples the book mentions, that probably come to mind as one thinks about it. Holmes compares his own method of reasoning to the mathematical equation of “The Rule of Three”, in **The Sign of Four**.

The book goes on to propose that there is a “Rule of Three” for the Sherlockian stories, that has nothing to do with mathematics, and that it has it’s own formula:

##  _**Absence+3=Death** _

**Absence** of a person from another person or place

**3** referring to a period of time, such as days, weeks, or years.

The **Death** happens at the beginning, and ends of the periods, or even both.

These elements appear in:

**A Study In Scarlett**

**The Boscombe Valley Mystery**

**The Musgrave Ritual**

**The Greek Interpreter**

**The Priory School**

**The Valley of Fear**

The most important of all of these is in The Death and Resurrection of Sherlock Holmes. **The Final Problem** and **The Empty House** are filled with symbols of three. Moriarty being three brothers name James, the showdown at Reichenbach, beginning with Moriarty’s death, resulting in Holmes leaving for three years, and ending when he comes back, with the death of Ronald Adair. Also, the absence of Watson, after leaving the falls, the passage of three hours, the death of Moriarty, and supposedly Sherlock Holmes. “The Sherlockian Rule of Three”.

**_So, can the formula Absence+3=Death be applied to BBC Sherlock?_ **

_Bill Mason, from Tennessee, a fan of Sherlock Holmes since age 13, is a Sherlockian lecturer, a Baker Street Irregular, founder of The  Rashers of Nashville, member of Nashville Scholars of The Three Pipe Problem. He also served as a senior level staff member in the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, the White House, under Al Gore. **More soon!**_

 


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